1 post from 2007

Do wishes come true?

Many times I wondered if one day I would be able to shoot like a pro or to use some of the professional equipment that the pros use to take pictures underwater.
I owned an Olympus camera that I though was the best. I decide to put the camera up for sale and pursuit my dream.

I was undecided if I was ready to go digital I was struggling internally whether to purchase a Digital SLR camera. I listened to that little voice and I bought
an Nikon D200 and the question pop up. “Now what”? The answer DIGITAL JAM

As I read diving magazines, I came across where you can go and learn how to take pictures underwater. Many of them required to have your own equipment or you can
rent the equipment. Also the destinations where to far away from me and to expensive

I have shot pictures underwater before with my old camera with no experience.
It was my wish that some day there would be something out there, where you can go diving with a professional underwater photographer, use their equipment and maybe give you pointers about taking good shoots underwater.

DIJITAL JAM was a wish come true, COZUMEL was affordable for me

I began my first dive and underwater shooting day with Fred Dion a professional underwater photographer and photo technician from Underwater Photo-Tech; locate in New Hampshire.

We dove underwater with The Nikon D200 with state of the Art Light & Motion Housing and all electronic controls. Finally I was able to realize my wish

On the First day, I was able to get familiar with the housing and shoot a macro photography
……………..not bad for a first time

After the dive & shooting pictures underwater all participants proceeded to review their photos with the experts and professional photographers. Phil Rudin a Professional Photographer and Sr. Photographer of Dive Chronicles Magazine of Florida, was the first one to critique of photographs giving us an important lesson on how we can acquire best results with our photos including techniques and position of the strobe to acquire better lighting, He spoke about what a professional photographer should look for underwater.

Fred Dion gave us a review of the difficulty of shooting macro images and how important is to have a good buoyancy underwater.

The presentation continued with the introduction of the man that made this event possible,
Mr. Brad Nolan Publisher of the Dive Chronicles Magazine of Florida, He welcomed us all to DIJITAL JAM COZUMEL and presented the rules and prices of the photo contest, not to mention the wonderful shirts and different goodies that where give to the participants.

During the rest of our dives Fred, Phil & Brad were on board of the dive boat “Renegade”, operated by DIVE PARADISE dilating us with their experiences and keeping us inform of the lattes technologies of computers and diving equipment giving us pointers of how to shoot a wide angle photography and video.

At the end of each dive they critiqued out photos, each day I got better and better. I used different equipment every day. I shot macro, wide angle. and video.
I never used video before or macro photography. Over all I did OK. On the last day of the event there was a contest participants submitted 3 photos of each category, $10,000 in prizes was to be awarded.

I won a 2nd place under the category of “above water”, with a photo of the streets of Cozumel at night , I was so surprised and happy.

I had so much fun with the group of divers of DIGITAL JAM. Their care and help with each other, the staff from the dive operator DIVE PARADISE, were awesome the dive masters, LOCO & MARTIN made our dive’s safe & fun.

Fred, Phil and Brad made us a better photographers not just for the techniques and experiences that the shared with us, but also for the underwater photo etiquette lessons.

Thank you DIGITAL JAM I know now that wishes really do come true
I had a wonderful time learning.

By
Jorge Gonzalez